Aquila

An eagle, and the bird of Zeus, who hurled thunderbolts at his enemies, if you love your Greek or Roman mythology. Last night, Yellowknife and much of the countryside within a few hundred kilometres was his enemy - I suppose.

From within moments of pulling out of my driveway enroute to my first guest, all the way through the night and to some six hours later re-approaching the city lights, lightning was just about anywhere you looked, at least every couple minutes, sometimes seconds.

And in order to maintain some sort of stereotypical 'I do this all the time, and I'm used to everything out here' kind of attitude tours guides are supposed to have (are they?), I tried a little bit to remain somewhat 'cool' about the lightning, stunning cloud formations, all against a twilight sky on the drive out, but what's the point? I loved it. I loved every moment of it - maybe more than the aurora in those moments. It was breathtaking and just absolutely awe-inspiring. But even better than the drive through all of it? Watching the aurora dance with pink edges while spectacular lightning flashes lit up the opposite half of the sky.